Are You New? And Other Oneshots
by EtheriumArt
Summary: This is a collection of chronological one shots, of Jim at the academy! Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

I clutched my schedule in my hands, walking down the hall with my bag slung over one shoulder. Room 209, where was room 209? Based on the numbers I was passing, I was getting close.

Finally, I saw it at the end of the hall. Room 209. I broke into a trot, and walked into the classroom. I looked upon the sea of white, red and gold uniforms, searching for a place to sit. My eyes landed upon an empty seat in the third row, and I walked over to it and sat down.

"Are you new?"

I looked to my left to see my deskmate. She was shorter than me, but only by a little bit. Her hair was a color that was on the borderline between brown and blonde, and she had eyes that were on the borderline between blue and green. She had a small turned up nose, very much like mine, and a square jaw. Her hair was pulled up into a very high ponytail, and I could tell that it was very, very long.

"Oh! Um, yeah," I said, giving her a tentative smile.

She gave me a giant grin in return. Okay, this one was friendly. That was potentially dangerous. "I'm Beck," she said, extending a hand for me to shake. "Beck Wolf."

"Like the famous solar surfer?" I blurted, before catching myself.

She chuckled. "Yeah, like the famous solar surfer."

I shook her hand, embarrassed. "I'm Jim Hawkins," I said.

"It's nice to meet you, Jim!" she said, pumping my arm up and down. Oh no. She was enthusiastic. Perhaps I had chosen my seat incorrectly. After a moment, she said, "It's unusual of them to let students in mid-year. Who recommended you?"

"Captain Amelia," I said.

Her head snapped towards me. "Say what now?"

"Captain Amelia? Amelia Doppler?" I said.

"Yeah, I know who Captain Amelia is. The dean recommended you?!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah…" I said.

"What on earth did you do to get the dean's attention?" she asked, sounding impressed.

"I-" I started, but the bell rang and the teacher walked into the room. I smiled upon recognizing a familiar face. This was Doc's class.

"Good morning, students!" he called.

"Good morning, Doctor Doppler," the class called back.

"Alright. Now, the first order of business today is introducing a new student!" he said, hands on his hips.

Shit. I suppose this was unavoidable, but… still. Shit. The last thing in the whole _universe_ I wanted to do was get up in front of a bunch of high school students and be forced to answer their questions.

"I would like to introduce Jim Hawkins!" said Doc, beckoning me to the front of the class. I obliged, but I wasn't thrilled about it. "Now Jim, why don't you tell the class a little about yourself?" he suggested.

I looked out over the class, and found that every eye was turned towards me. Beck was even leaning forward in her seat, an eager expression on her face.

"I'm Jim Hawkins," I said. Shit, the doc had already said that.

"Where are you from?" called a student in the back.

"Montressor," I supplied, nervously.

"The mining planet?" asked the same student.

"Um… yeah," I said.

I heard someone whisper something to their deskmate, and they snickered loudly and rudely. I flushed. Yeah, I know Montressor isn't exactly a rich place. But it's home.

"Jim, tell them about what happened a couple of months ago," prompted Doppler.

I groaned inwardly. "Last month, I got home from a months long voyage in space," I began. "The voyage was captained by Captain Amelia, and financed by Doctor Doppler. We went to find Treasure Planet," I said.

I heard someone snort. "You were on that boat that chased a myth?"

"It's not a myth!" I protested. "It exists! We found it!"

"It's true," said the doc, backing me up. "We did indeed find Treasure Planet. Jim found the map, and was the only person who could open it."

The class murmured, seeming to finally believe me now that Doctor Doppler backed me up. I looked over at Beck. She looked shocked. I shuffled back to my seat, and the class commenced.

Someone slammed my locker shut as I grabbed my textbook for the next class. I jumped, and looked over to see Beck leaning on the lockers. "Holy crap, Jimbo," she said, sounding impressed.

"Don't scare me like that!" I protested, nearly dropping my book.

"Sorry," she said, wincing. "Didn't mean to."

"What exactly do you mean by 'holy crap'?" I asked, a bit harsher than I meant to.

"You found Treasure Planet?!" she exclaimed. "You! You did!"

"Yeah," I said.

"I always knew it was real," she said, smirking. "Hey, want some help finding your next class?"

I was about to protest, but decided against it. Even though I was a proud bastard, I was completely lost in this massive school.

"Oh hey, you have shop next. That's right next to my next class!" she said, looking at my schedule. She grabbed my arm, and began to walk. I followed her, but pulled my arm out of her grasp.

"I can lead myself," I said, not unkindly.

She smirked again. "Sorry," she said. "I get excited."

"So I've noticed," I mumbled.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing."

"Alright, here we are," she said, after a while. "Shop is in there. Meet me after class?"

"Why?" I said rudely, before I'd even realized I'd said it. The moment that word left my mouth I wished I could take it back.

"Because you'll need help finding your next class," she said. "Catchya later, Jimbo!"


	2. Chapter 2

I walked out of the boys' dorm, bag slung over my right shoulder. My first week at the Interstellar Academy hadn't been bad. It was Monday. The start of a new week. I walked down the hallway to my first class, Astronomy, when I became aware of someone following me.

I turned around, but didn't see anyone. I turned back to the front, only to see Beck directly in front of me, walking backwards. "Hiya, Jimbo!" she chirped.

I jumped. "Shit!" I yelped.

Her eyes got wide, and she stopped walking suddenly, making me crash into her. She put a finger on my lips. "Shhhhh," she said. "You could get detention for that."

"For what?" I asked. I was enormously uncomfortable, pressed up against a girl in the hallway. We were getting weird looks and stares, but Beck didn't seem to notice or care. No doubt people thought the gesture was romantic. "And you are literally the weirdest person ever."

"For swearing," she said, stepping away from me. "And thank you! I'm aware of that."

"Detention for swearing?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They're weird about it," she said. "I don't mind it. I mean, hell, I swear. But not on school grounds. Aaron Bartell got a detention for saying 'dammit' yesterday."

"Dammit?" I snorted.

"Shhhhhh!" she said, eyes wide, with an urgent look on her face. "The hall monitors are everywhere! You never know who's listening!"

I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, let's go," I said.

She grinned and trotted after me. "And here I thought you didn't like me."

"I don't."

"Yeah, whatever, Jimbo."

"Do you really feel the need to call me that?" I asked, irritated.

"What, why? It's just a nickname," she said.

"Yeah, I know," I said. "It's just… never mind."

"Oh," she said, seeming to understand. "Sorry, Jim."

"It's fine," I sighed. "We don't want to be late for Astronomy, c'mon."

As we walked into class and sat down in our seats, she cocked her head at me. "So, if Jimbo is a name I shouldn't use often, what can I call you?"

"Jim."

"Oh c'mon, my dude, you're no fun," she said, fake-pouting.

"I am _not_ 'your dude'," I snarled, glaring at her. "Stop it with the nicknames already! It's annoying! You're annoying! I wish you would just leave me alone!"

"But… I thought we were friends," she said, looking at me with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Friends? I don't have friends!" I growled.

She looked at me with genuine hurt in her eyes. Not the fake stuff she pulled earlier. Real, genuine hurt. "Ok," she said, quietly. "Sorry if I got the wrong idea." Wordlessly, she pulled her notebook out of her bag.

The rest of class was strange. The only thing she said to me was to ask to borrow an eraser, and even then her sentences were short and to the point. After class, she just brushed past me. We didn't even walk together. This had never happened to me before. I usually didn't talk to people more than the usual interaction that was forced. It had almost seemed that she and I were becoming friends, and I didn't know… I didn't know how to deal with that. And I didn't know how to fix this.

After school, I saw Beck walking back to the girls' dorms with a group of her friends. Now. Now was my chance. "BECK!" I shouted, jogging to catch up. "Beck, slow down!"

She slowed down enough for me to walk backwards in front of her. One of her friends elbowed her and grinned, and Beck shot her this death glare that could probably burn the skin off of a Zapwing. "What is it, Hawkins," she snapped.

"I… I'm sorry," I said. "I fucked that one up. Real bad."

She stopped, arching an eyebrow at me. "Did you just apologize?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Look, I'm not used to people talking to me. I scare people away pretty easily," I said. "But I… I like being friends with you."

"I like being friends with you too," she said, face breaking out in a grin. "C'mon, I gotta hug you."

"Do you reall-" I was cut off by a bone-crushing embrace. She gave much better hugs than B.E.N., and I decided to hug her back. I wrapped my arms around her, and she gasped and looked up.

"You… you hugged me back!" she exclaimed.

I nodded. "We're friends, right?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Jim!" I shouted, hair streaming behind me as I ran out of math class. "JIM! Wait for me!"

He turned around and saw me, and his face broke out into a grin. "Beck!" When I came closer, and fell in step with him, he cocked his head, studying me. "Your hair," he remarked.

"Yeah?" I asked, playing with a bit in the front. "What about it?"

"It's down!" he exclaimed, shouldering his bag. "We've known each other for three weeks, and this is the first time I've ever seen your hair down!"

I smiled, and ran my hand through it. My long, now quite brown, not quite blonde hair reached just above my hips, right about at my belly button. "I felt like changing it up."

"Well, it's pretty," he said. "You should wear it like that more often."

"Thanks!" I said. "It just gets to be a pain in the ass when I'm piloting, y'know?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Or solar surfing," I added. "When I solar surf with my hair down, most of it ends up in my mouth."

He snorted. "I know how that feels."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh really? Your hair is so short."

He ran a hand through it. "Yeah, I suppose it is now. I got it cut when I found out I got accepted to the Interstellar Academy," he explained.

"Oh, what was it like before?" I asked.

"I think I have a picture," he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a locket charm, and flicked it open. A hologram of him and his mother popped out, and I noticed that his hair was indeed longer in the short clip. He still had an undercut, but wait… was that a rat tail?

"Did you… have a rat tail?" I asked, with a curious expression on my face.

"I… did," he said, sounding a little bit ashamed.

"Oh, don't be embarrassed," I said. "It looked good."

"Really? You're not just saying that because you're my friend?" he asked, sounding doubtful.

"I swear on my honor," I chuckled. "You look older with your hair shorter though."

"And you look older with your hair down," he said, smiling at me.

Later that evening, I was sitting on my bed in the dorm rooms, doing my reading for Astronomy. My roommate, Leah, was doing math. She was felinid, like Captain Amelia. She had short black hair cut in a bob, and piercing green eyes. "So," she said, and I looked up. "What's with you and Hawkins?"

"Huh?" I asked, stupidly. "I don't follow."

"Are you two… oh, I dunno, like, dating?" she asked, putting down her pencil and giving me this arrogant little smirk that I really just wanted to smack off her face.

"Um, no," I said, drawing my lips into a straight line. "We're friends."

"Oh, I've heard that one before," she snorted. "It's cute though."

"Excuse me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well you're both human!" she exclaimed. "You're like some of the only humans in our class."

"I suppose that's true," I conceded.

"Y'know everyone thinks you two are dating," Leah said, grinning.

I looked up at her, eyes big. "Um… what?"

"Everyone thinks you two are a couple!" she repeated.

"Great," I said, closing my Astronomy textbook. "That is just… fantastic."

"Really?" she said, arching an eyebrow at me.

"Do you even understand sarcasm!?" I growled.

She laughed. "Sorry, you are weird about sarcasm."

"Excuse me?"

"I can never tell if you're being sarcastic or not. Well, at least, not most of the time. Sometimes you do the regular sarcastic drawl, but most of the time you use your normal voice," she explained.

"I never realized that," I said.

"That's why you have me, Rebecca," said Leah, grinning. "To make you realize stuff about yourself. Like that you're in love with Jim Hawkins."

"I am NOT IN LOVE with JIM HAWKINS!" I snarled, slamming my book down. "We are friends. Let. It. Go."

She laughed in spite of me, and let it be at that.

God. Some people.


	4. Chapter 4

Beck pushed her bangs back, raking her fingers through them over the top her her head. "Ugh, it's so _hot,"_ she complained. "I don't even have my hair down and it's sticking to my neck!"

I smirked. "Perks of having an undercut," I chuckled.

"I fu-" she began, but caught herself, seeing as we were on school grounds. "I freaking hate September here," she groaned.

"Yeah, you're not alone," I said. "So what did you need help with again?" I asked, hefting my backpack a little.

"My solar surfer won't start, and I can't figure out why," she said. "My uncle used to help me with this kind of stuff, but he can't anymore, so I'm turning to you."

"Being on a different planet than your family can really suck, huh," I said, sympathetically. There were days when I missed Montressor so much that it physically hurt. I missed Mom, and B.E.N., and the Benbow Inn. And I missed Silver almost as much as I missed Mom.

We walked towards the hangar where students were allowed to keep personal vehicles. "It's not that," she said.

"Then what is it" I asked, more bluntly than I meant to.

"My uncle died," she said simply. "He died four years ago."

"Oh," I said, unsure of what to say in this occasion. "I'm so sorry for your loss." God, that sounded awkward and fake. She was probably used to hearing that generic statement.

"He died in a tragic solar surfing accident," she continued. "It was a pretty famous story on the news for weeks after his death."

"Wait, was your uncle Beck Wolf?!" I cried. Beck Wolf was one of the greatest solar surfers of all time. I was was, because he had been dead for four years.

She nodded. "Yeah, I felt like taking on his name as my nickname was kind of like keeping his memory alive."

God, what do you even say to that?

"I'm sorry if that just made things really awkward," she said. "I'm good at that."

I chuckled and nudged her playfully with my shoulder. "Yeah, no kidding. But you're not alone. I fuck everything up."

"School grounds," she hissed. "I swear to God, Jim, it's like you want to be suspended."

I just laughed. We walked into the hangar. I had never actually seen her solar surfer before. I had never seen her surf. Y'know, it's funny, because it was both of our passions, solar surfing. I wondered to myself why we hadn't gone surfing together yet.

"Which one is yours?" I asked.

She pointed, and I followed her finger. When I saw the surfer on the end of it, my jaw dropped.

"THAT'S YOURS!?" I cried, running towards it and dropping to one knee, running my hands along it and admiring it. "I've been coveting this thing since I got here!"

Oh shit. It was a beauty. Chrome and silver detailing, with double thrusters and a lock mechanism for holding the foot in place. A button to lift the sail and… oh, the sail. It was vibrant royal purple and nearly competition grade.

I looked up at her with a stupid grin on my face. "This is the most beautiful surfer I've ever seen."

"My uncle built it," she said. "He said someday I'd be ready for competition sails."

I was touching a solar surfer hand build by the famous Beck Wolf. Pinch me. "Okay, what's wrong with it?" I asked, getting down to business.

"Well," she said, crouching down next to me. "When I add thrust, it triggers the sail."

"The hell?" I said looking at her with one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I know," she said.

"Do you mind demonstrating?" I asked, standing up and brushing myself off.

She smiled and stood as well, getting onto her solar surfer. She kicked the latch and the jets roared to life, the board rising a foot off the round.

"So far so good," I remarked, arms folded. I looked her over, noting her stance and her posture. She knew what she was doing, that's for sure. She had her right foot forward on the board and her left foot back. Wait a second, left foot back? "Wait, Beck," I said, "before you add thrust, I gotta ask you: are you left handed? I don't seem to ever recall you using your left hand in class."

She twisted around to grin at me. "Naw, I'm not left handed. I have mixed dominance."

"Wait, like being ambidextrous?" I asked, stroking my chin.

She shook her head again. "No. I can only write with my right hand. Mixed dominance means that I'm right hand dominant for some things and left hand dominant for other things," she explained. "I solar surf goofy foot."

"That's weird," I remarked. "Weird, but cool."

"Okay, now watch this," she said. "This is where things get weird." She moved her left foot back to activate the thrusters. As soon as she did, the sail popped up out of the side of the board. She activated the thrusters again, and the sail folded back down into the board.

"What the hell?" I said, laughing. "That has got to be the weirdest thing I've seen in awhile."

She got down off the board, nodding. "I know, right?" She turned it off, and flipped it over. "Do you think you can help me figure out what's wrong?"

"Yeah," I said, "no problem." I crouched down on my knees in front of the overturned board next to her. I opened the back panel, and she handed me a pack of tools that had been lying on the ground near us.

I began poking around in the wiring, trying to find the problem, when suddenly I spotted it. "Well, Beck," I said, hands covered in grease, "that right there is your problem."

"What?" she asked, leaning over the board. "What's my problem?"

"These wires are frayed," I explained, "and they're shorting out as well. It's causing some weird stuff to happen with your board."

"Can you fix it?" she asked.

"Absolutely," I replied. "No problem."

Ten minutes saw me elbow deep in mechanical grease, hair disheveled, as I worked to repair something that turned out to be a lot more difficult than I originally anticipated. On top of that, I was walking Beck through the repair, because she told me she wanted to know more about building and maintaining solar surfers.

She pushed a strand of hair out of her face with a grease covered hand. "So I don't need a wrench?" she asked.

"Correct. Not when changing out valves," I said, showing her what I meant.

"But I need one for tightening valves."

"Yes, correct."

She sat back. "Yikes. This is all so complicated. How do you manage it, Jimbo?"

I ignored the fact she called me Jimbo, I let it slide this once. "It's what I do," I explained. "You're good in the classroom, I'm good with machines."

"You're good in the classroom too," she said. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Jim."

I looked at her with a small side smile on my face. "That's nice of you to say."

"It's the truth."

I looked back over at the surfer. "I think our work here is done, wanna test her out?"

"Abso-frickin-lutely!" she crowed, jumping to her feet.

I stepped back from the board, and she flipped it over. Hopping on the board, she kicked the latch, jets roaring to life.

"Um, Beck?" I said, laughing. "You might want to do that outside of the hangar."

"Oh, yeah," she said sheepishly, turning red. She turned off the jets and got off the board, picking it up and walking outside. Once we were standing far enough away from the hangar, she repeated the process.

She triggered the release for the sail, and giving me a wicked grin, stomped down on the thrusters. In a roar of flame, she shot forward. She tore around the open area faster than I've seen anyone go on a surfer in a long time, and did a couple of laps before coming to a screeching halt before me.

"It works!" she exclaimed. "Thank you, Jim!"

"No problem," I said, smiling.


End file.
